Magnolia
A portal malfunction transports Happy to an alternate reality where magic exists only in a VR MMO battle game called Magnolia. He must now recruit alternate versions of his Fairy Tail guild mates in order to compete and win a way back to Earthland. Things get complicated when Natsu's feelings for Lucy spirals beyond that of friendship. Will Happy ever get back?
Disclaimer: Fairy Tail is a wonderful series. So wonderful in fact that I wish I thought of it. Maybe with the help of a time machine, I'll be able to go back before it was published and publish it first? Until that happens though…the series and its characters belong to the wonderful Hiro Mashima.
Author's Note: Hello! This fic is something new I'm trying. Although it is technically an AU fic, the plot is still tied to the original Fairy Tail universe. I won't give too much of the story away, but I'm not ruling out eventual interactions between Earthland Fairy Tail and Earth Fairy Tail
Oh and don't worry, as a hardcore NaLu fan, be sure to expect lots of fluff and NaLu moments though you may have to be patient.
Please read and review. I always appreciate feedback whether it's good or constructive. As always, pardon any errors and grammatic mistakes.
Enjoy the fic!
Chapter One: Natsu
It was a perfectly ordinary day. Or it would have been had he not decided to take a detour after school that day. In fact, there were so many pivotal moments that lead to this point that Natsu could hardly remember them all. Like how, if he had packed his lunch that morning, he would have never bumped into his childhood friend Lisanna at the cafeteria. He would never have been coaxed into helping out with the sports festival preparations and as a result, he would have never missed his bus. He definitely should not have agreed when Lisanna, eyes twinkling, begged him to walk her home, as, to put it in her words: they do live on the same block. And the only reason he took that detour in the first place was because a) it was the fastest route to his house and b) he drank too much water that afternoon and had to pee real bad. This all could have been avoided if he had just kept his mouth shut when Gray Fullbuster dared him to compete in Juvia's lunchtime water drinking contest.
Unfortunately for him, fate had other plans and it was precisely these plans that led him to this moment.
Natsu could see the streetlights just a few metres ahead but the detour alley was too narrow for him to get through without stepping on that. Natsu squinted his eyes, begging them to adjust to the darkness. Whatever was in front of him was moving. It was alive. It was like a scene straight from Invasion of the Body Snatchers when the alien pods landed. He knew he shouldn't have agreed to watch that movie. That film gave him nightmares.
"Mmmmmmhmmm"
He almost jumped out of his skin. My god, he thought. It talks. Whatever that thing was, it was trying to communicate. Natsu hoped to god it was friendly. His chances of survival would be slim otherwise. Growing up with a horror film fanatic like Lisanna had educated him enough to know that in a horror film scenario like this, characters like him always die first.
As Natsu's eyes adjusted to his surroundings, he could make out what seemed like a tail. The tail was attached to a furry body with limbs and he thought he saw…feathers?
"I uh…don't mean you any harm." He said nervously, hoping he sounded more confident than he felt. He didn't want to seem like easy prey.
"Mmmmhm-Na-mmm-tsu.""
For a second, Natsu thought it said his name.
"Are you okay?" Natsu asked.
The tail started to wave in mid-air. The way it moved reminded Natsu of the dancing cobras he saw once on TV. It moved left to right for a while until it finally stopped in front of Natsu.
"Uh…" Natsu stared at it awkwardly, pulling out a finger to touch it. ET phone home?
The moment he touched the tail, it flinched and dropped to the floor. Natsu could tell, at this point, that the creature was definitely some kind of animal because it had fur… and ears. Definitely not a body snatcher, much to his relief. It did look familiar though, like an oddly shaped cat. And the strangest thing of all was its fur…it was blue.
"You're like a deformed tanuki…" Natsu whispered, fascinated.
The creature, offended by what he said, chose that moment to pounce.
"HAPPY IS NOT DEFORMED!" it shouted.
Natsu bolted, running as fast as he could in the opposite direction. He tripped over his own foot just as he exited the alley, tumbling into a nearby shrub. He dusted off the twigs in his hair and turned to stare at the creature.
"I'm also NOT a tanuki", it said, walking out from the darkness.
Under the light, Natsu could tell it certainly wasn't a tanuki. It looked like some kind of plush toy.
A talking plush toy.
For a moment, neither of them moved, examining each other carefully. Then suddenly, a bright smile appeared on the plush toy's face.
"Oh, it's Natsu!" The thing cried happily, flying up to hug his midriff.
Okay, a talking, flying plush toy.
"This day just keeps getting weirder and weirder." Natsu muttered to himself, collapsing back onto the ground, massaging his temples. "I'm talking to a plush toy."
"Don't call me a plush toy!" the thing shouted angrily. "Exceeds are not plush toys."
"Exceeds?" Natsu asked, visibly confused.
"Yes, I'm an Exceed! You know, flying cat from Edolas." The thing stared at Natsu's dumbfounded face. "Like Carla? Pantherlily? No? Nothing?"
Natsu shook his head.
"Natsu, stop joking around." it said, frowning. "Where's Edo-Lucy."
"I am Natsu. But I'm not joking around." he said. "And I don't know you or this Edo-Lucy person."
The Exceed's eyes widened. "Aren't you Natsu Dragion of Fairy Tail?"
Natsu shook his head again.
"Isn't this Edolas?"
Natsu shook his head a third time.
Panicking, the blue Exceed looked around him frantically.
"What do you mean?! What happened?" it shouted. "Where am I?"
Natsu stared at the creature and felt sorry. The flying plush was weird, for sure. But it didn't look dangerous and from the sounds of things, this Exceed was very lost and confused.
"Look," Natsu sighed. "I don't know who or what you are, but you seem nice so let's try to get off on the right foot. Maybe I can help you."
"Really?" it sniffled, looking up at him with its big eyes.
"Yup" Natsu replied, extending his hands and smiling. "To start off with, I'm Natsu, human being from the planet Earth."
The Exceed smiled and held out its paws. "My name is Happy, I'm an Exceed from Earthland."
"Earthland?"
"It's where I'm from." Happy explained. "I don't know how I ended up here but I think I might have a general idea of where I am."
His eyes twinkled.
"This place, is like Edolas, but different."
Natsu frowned. None of this stuff was making any sense to him. He was glad that this whole situation turned out to be less sci-fi gore than he originally thought but this level of weirdness was too much even for his brain to handle. It was getting extremely late, and cold too. Every part of his brain was telling him to go home. And most importantly, he still really needed to pee.
"Can we…" Natsu began, shifting uncomfortably.
"This must be another parallel universe." Happy continued, not taking notice of Natsu's obvious discomfort. "The portal that was suppose to take me and Carla to Edolas must not have worked properly. It must have malfunctioned somehow and sent me to a different universe."
"Um…"
Happy took no notice. He was caught up in his own world. "But that doesn't explain why Carla's not here. Perhaps she was transferred somewhere else? That would be quite bad. She could be anywhere."
"How big is this Earth world exactly?" he asked, finally turning to look at Natsu.
Natsu frowned. "Big enough for it to be a pain to find someone if you don't know where they are."
Happy nodded thoughtfully. "Maybe it's better if I go back first. We did agree that if we got separated, we'd meet back in Earthland."
Natsu nodded enthusiastically, eager for the conversation to be over. "That sounds like a good idea. You should go back. I'm sure your friend's fine."
Happy smiled and retrieved a key-like object from the small bag he was carrying. "You're right. Alright then, Natsu of Earth. I'm glad I met you. Maybe I'll come visit sometimes."
Natsu gave him a toothy grin and a thumbs up. "Take care Happy."
Happy gave the key a wave.
"Bye!"
…
Natsu waited. He was excited. He had never seen dimension travel in action before. Sure, he heard about it over the news several times but it was all theoretical and decades from experimentation. Hence why, when Happy waved his key in the air, Natsu had hoped for something epic like some sort of light explosion. Electricity sparks would have been cool too.
But oddly enough. Nothing happened.
Happy was still there.
"Does it usually take this long?" Natsu asked, confused.
Happy frowned. "That's weird. This key is suppose to open up a return portal."
"Well…" said Natsu, scratching his chin. "It's taking a long time. Is it broken?"
"Well, this key was made to only travel to and from Edolas." Happy said thoughtfully, examining the key. "Maybe the journey to this universe burnt up more magic than we accounted for."
Happy sighed. "I need to refuel. Can you take me to someone who can help? Access to transportation lacrima perhaps? Or a dimension mage?"
Natsu raised an eyebrow. "I don't know what sort of magic you're talking about. But if you mean stuff like bippity boppity boo, I'm afraid you're in for a huge disappointment."
Happy's eyes widened in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"Well, I don't know how it is back in your world but over here," Natsu explained. "Magic doesn't exist. It's fictional. Meaning you'll only find it in books, movies, television or games."
"B-But…" Happy looked down at the key in his hand, the handle glistening under the streetlights. "How am I suppose to get back home without magic?"
Natsu stared sympathetically down at the poor guy who looked like he was about to cry. But what could he do?
"Well," he began awkwardly, "Let's not stand around here all night. Why don't you come home with me?"
Happy looked up at him sadly.
"You need a place to stay until you figure something out. And I don't know about you but…"
Natsu smiled apologetically. "I really really have to pee."
…
...
Author's Note:
Sorry for the rather slow pace. But I'm trying to slowly introduce the Earth-Fairy-Tail characters since it's a necessary part of the plot. But don't worry, you won't have to wait long for our favourite blonde mage because…
The next chapter is "Lucy".
Look forward to Happy & Natsu meeting Earth Lucy for the first time
Please don't forget to review and let me know what you think!